Folding chair



( No Model.)

A. PAIGE. FOLDING CHAIR.

No. 564,312. Patented July 21, 1896.

/Z, IE-5 AH;

951015 00., wonmumo.v w skmo'rcn n c UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFIcE,

ALEXANDER PAIGE, OF STROUD, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO ALFRED J. MASON, JR, OF IVORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

FIOLDING'CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 564,312, dated July 21, 1896. Application filed Ma 3,1895- Serial No. 548,017. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER PAIGE, of Dudbridge, Stroud, Gloucester county, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Chairs, (upon which a British patent was granted to me April 23, 1894, No. 7 ,968;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a side view of my said improved folding chair. Fig. 2 is a top or plan View thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the chair when folded, and Fig. 4 is an edge view thereof when folded.

The object of my invention is to provide a folding chair which shall be easy and comfortable to sit in, as well as simple and inexpensive in construction, and which embodies, substantially, the features of a rocking-chair without the use of ordinary rockers.

It consists of two pairs of crossed side frame-pieces with connecting cross-bars between, for fastening them together, and to which may be attached the ends of the canvas or other flexible seat; and of horizontal braces, two for each side of the chair, with one of each pair pivoted at the ends to the aforesaid side frame-pieces above where they cross each other, and the other ones of said pairs pivoted at the ends to said side framepieces below, where they cross as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

To enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to better understand the nature and purpose thereof, I will now proceed to describe it more in detail.

In the drawings, A A represent the long side framepieces above alluded to, which serve as supports for the back, and extend down forward under the seat to form the front legs of the chair.

B B are shorter side frame-pieces, which cross said long frame-pieces diagonally when the chair is open, and whose upper ends serve as supports for the front of the seat, while their lower ends extend down under the back of said seat and form the rear legs of the chair.

0 O are two horizontal braces, one for each side of the chair, arranged above, where the side frame-pieces cross each other when open, one end of each being pivoted to the long frame-pieces A A, and their other ends to the shorter frame-pieces B B.

D D are two horizontal side braces, arranged below, where the side frame-pieces cross, and which are pivoted at the ends to said frame-pieces, the same as braces O 0. (See Fig. 1 of the drawings.)

The frame pieces A A and B B are connected by suitable cross-bars E, F, G, and H, and also, preferably, by the cross-bar I; but the latter bar is not essential.

The canvas, or other flexible material J, which forms the seat, is fastened at one end to the cross-barE at the upper ends of the long frame-pieces A A, which extend up from the front legs to form the back, and at the other end to the cross-bar F at the upper ends of the other frame-pieces B B, which extend up from the back legs to form the front of the seat, suificient slack being provided to produce the desired shape of seat when the chair is opened or extended for use, as is shown in Fig. 1. The cross-bars E F thus serve the double purpose of fastening the upper ends of the side frame-pieces together, and to support theseat J, as aforesaid, and the crossbars G H serve to fasten the lower ends of 'said frame-pieces together.

If desired, metal corner-braces a may be used where the cross-bars are attached to the frame-pieces to stiffen the frame, but I do not limit myself thereto.

By thus constructing a folding chair with two horizontal side braces on each side, pivoted at four points, as previously described, it willatonce be seen that the person sitting in the chair may rock back and forth in a similar manner to that when ordinary rockers are attached to the bottom of a chair, the

' pivoted side braces permitting the side framepieces A and B to swing up and down on their floor-bearings, to conform withthe movements of the person rocking in the chair. In said rocking movements the frame-pieces A A swing on the pivots connecting their bottom ends with the forward ends of the bottom side braces D D and on the pivots connecting said frame-pieces with the rear ends of the upper side braces O C, said braces C O swinging up and down with the frame-pieces A A on the pivots connecting the forward ends thereof with the forward upper ends of frame-pieces B. Said frame-pieces B B also swing with the frame-pieces A A on their bottom pivots, connecting the same with the rear ends of the bottom braces D D through the aforesaid braces C 0, connecting the upper ends of the frame-pieces A A and B B. Thus when the person swings back, the upper ends of the frame-pieces A A swing back and down, and the frame-pieces B B swing back and up with them through said connections C O, and vice versa, when said person swings forward. At each of said backward and forward rocking movements the bottom ends of the framepieces A and I3 slip a trifle on the surface of the floor to conform with the slight increase and decrease in distance between the bottom ends of said frame-pieces caused by their aforesaid upward and downward swinging movements on their respective pivots. As my improved chairs are designed more espe cially for use on verandas and similar places, said slight movement upon the floor surface is of no particular disadvantage to the same.

It will also be observed by Figs. 3 and 4: that my improved chair may be very compactly folded for shipment or storage when not in use, the side frame-pieces and side braces all 1, ying in line, and only the cross bars projecting outside thereof, as is shown in Fig. 4.

Having described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An improved folding chair, comprising in combination the two pairs of diagonallycrossed side frame-pieces A, A,' and B, B; the horizontal, side braces C, (J, and D, D, the braces C, C, each being pivoted at one end to the frame-pieces A, A, and at their other ends to the frame-pieces l3, '3, above, where said frame-pieces cross each other when the chair is open, and the braces D, D, each being likewise pivoted to said frame-pieces below, said point of crossing; the cross-bars E, F, G and H, fastened at the ends to the side frame-pieces, and the canvas, or other flexible seat J, attached at one end to the cross-bar E, at the upper ends of frame-pieces A, A, and at the other end to the cross-bar 1 at the upper ends of frame-pieces B B, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ALEXANDER PAIGE. \Vitnesses:

J. \V. .ToNEs, CHAS. CooMBs. 

